War on Meth - Focus on Cold Medicines

Posted: Tue 7:59 PM, Feb 10, 2004&nbsp|&nbsp

Updated: Wed 8:49 AM, Feb 11, 2004

(Oklahoma City-AP) - A bill passed Tuesday by a state House committee would make it tougher to buy pseudoephedrine.

The bill is aimed at curbing methamphetamine use in the state. Pseudoephedrine is a decongestant common in cold tablets, but it's also the main ingredient in methamphetamine. The bill would require customers to show photo ID and a signature before they could buy medicine containing pseudoephedrine.

It would also make the decongestant a regulated substance that could only be sold by a licensed pharmacist. And it would limit the amount of pseudoephedrine a person could have at one time to nine grams, or about 10 boxes.

The bill is being named after a highway patrol trooper killed while checking on a car believed to contain a mobile meth lab.

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Fast Facts About Meth

Methamphetamine use among high school seniors more than doubled between 1990 and 1996.

Women are more likely to use meth than cocaine.

The average meth "cook" annually teaches ten others how to make meth.

Every pound of meth produced leaves behind five to six pounds of toxic waste.

Seizures of clandestine meth labs in the Midwest increased tenfold from 1995 to 1997.

Methamphetamine accounts for up to 90 percent of all drug cases in many Midwest communities.

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